Another foggy night

Friday 23rd March -
Putting your hopes in the weatherman/weather websites is proving to be the wrong thing to do at the moment. Last night I was promised (maybe that's where I'm going wrong!) that the temperatures would stay above 9 degrees, and that the sky was going to be cloudy. "Tonight is a good night to test the MV properly" I thought. As I arrived home after Scouts, watching the temperature plummet through the early evening I stood watching the trap for an hour. A Small Quaker arrived about 2215, and two Emmelina were on the shed walls waiting for me, but for that hour I got bored!
So I decided to call it quits at 2330. I picked my way through the eggboxes and managed a fairly respectable 10 moths in total. Not bad for the temperature and conditions (it was misty in patches under a clear sky).

The Small Quaker is new for the year.

Also in the trap were:
1 x Hebrew Character
5 x Common Quaker
1 x Clouded Drab

2 x Emmelina monodactyla on sheds
1 x Small Quaker potted from the sheet

Moth Year list = 18

Blame the weatherman

15th March 2012

After a week of cold mornings I was hopeful for Thursday night. Whichever weatherman I listened to they said it was going to be a nice day, warm temperatures and a warm night. What did we wake up to? The thickest fog all year and a daily maximum of 9 degrees! I debated about putting out the trap, but then I had been looking forward to it all week, so I decided to try it. By 10pm I'd not had a sniff, so I was very doubtful about the mornings success.

However, just to prove me wrong I did have a few moths to pot up. Three species in all, and all three new for the year, of course.

These two Twin-spotted Quakers were a nice find as I've only caught two other individuals before.

I've never seen one with the rusty coloured marking across the middle before.

 Next were two Common Quakers, a common species in the garden but such lovely markings when they're nice and fresh like this.
And of course the last one had to be the Clouded Drab. I managed three of these and the variability of their colours can be seen in the photos of the three of them together below right.

So not quite as bad a night as I was expecting. 7 moths of 3 species. Not a big catch but certainly a sign of things to come...